Off the rails with a splash! (Tomy Thomas The Tank Engine Bath Island)

Member Name: ButterBear

Product:	Tomy Thomas The Tank Engine Bath Island
Date:	14/01/08 (87 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Entertaining and colourful

Disadvantages: Comes apart, doesn't stick to bath, limited challenge

My little boy loves his baths, unlike many kids, and never needs any encouragement to have one, granted he's only 3 and the novelty will probably wear off soon, but I always like to make sure he's got a few toys to play with in there just to keep him entertained, usually he's happy with a few boats, floating fish or ducks...you know the sort of thing, but when he received the Thomas The Tank Engine Bath Island as a gift his regular toys could not be cast aside fast enough, if there's one thing he likes more then baths it's Thomas The Tank.


Thomas Bath Island-
The Thomas Bath Island is made up of 2 parts and also comes with a Thomas and a boat. Assembly is simple as the majority of the island and its features are already connected, all you have to do is clip into place the yellow, ramp style piece of track. Made of durable plastic it is naturally water proof, it's a bath toy after all, and has 2 large plastic suckers on the back which allow you to attach it to the bath or tiles (If you have any surrounding your bath) It's brightly coloured and very appealing to any young Thomas fan.

Features on the island include a windmill which spins when water is poured over it (either by using the boat supplied or any plastic cup you have lying around) there is also a house which you pour water into the chimney, then press the front door shaped button to create small bubbles. There is a water vat which pours onto a water wheel and finally when you pop Thomas at the top of his ramp and press down on the flag it sends him down the ramp and into the water. Thomas himself has the added feature of being able to fill with water, there is a small hole by his mouth which then squirts the water back out. The boat does little more then float on the water and is used to pour the water into all the little features.


Our Opinion-
As expected Christopher just loves the toy, he always stayed in his baths for a long time but now and hour and a half can go by and he still doesn't want to get out, I find myself constantly topping up his water just so he doesn't end up with a chill. It's suitable for children over 2 so it's perfectly aimed at his age group with him quickly mastering the actions of all the sections.

Personally I find the activities on the toy a bit disappointing, I had somehow imagined that they would be linked together creating more of a sequence of events but I suppose there is more to keep a little one entertained and challenged by making the sections operate separately ending up with different results. It reminds me a lot of the water toys that are used at his nursery and it's always good to see him master a toy and in some way educate himself as to how all these water systems work.

As I mentioned earlier there is not a lot of assembly that goes into the toy, all you need to do is attach the ramp, unfortunately it's ease of assembly is mirrored by is ease of disassembly and I find myself regularly being called to the bathroom because it's come apart again. I also find it difficult to keep the island attached to the bath with the suckers and more often then not admit defeat and just let him sit in the bath with the island on his lap, this actually ends up saving me mess though as there's a lot of water spillage which would be fine if your bath is against the wall and perfectly sealed, however ours isn't and the water ends up all over the floor.

The toys itself is quite tough and has stood up well to the abuse that my 2 toddlers have put it through. Because it's a bath toy we've also managed to keep together all the parts (Thomas, boat etc) which would normally never happen with their regular toys.


Price & Availability-
The toy can be found in most toy stores such as Woolworths and Toys R Us, as well as stores like Argos, in the region of £9.99, it is also available online from places like Amazon.


Overall-
While the kids may enjoy the toy I can't see how it achieves much more then similar, cheaper and unbranded bath toys. Yes it works and it entertains them but they were always happy with the toys they had before and I would be reluctant to spend £10 on a toy that does so little.


Go to http://www.tomy.co.uk for more on the island as well as Tomy's range of toys.

Summary: Money is best spent on cheaper more challenging bath entertainment.